North Yorkshire County Council will continue to meet online for the time being.
Remote Meetings have become the norm since the lockdowns started and for North Yorkshire County Council they are going to continue until at least September.
Council Leader Carl Les says there a re number of reasons to stick with them for the time being.
The authority moved all it's meetings online at the start of the pandemic.They are now going to continue with the virtual gatherings until September when it's hoped all staff and councillors will have been double jabbed.
Councillor Stuart Parsons thinks there have been other benefits to meeting remotely.
County Councillor David Staveley also thinks the online meetings have had hidden benefits. He says holding the meetings online and allowing the public to view the meetings in real time has lead to more public involvement in the decision making process.
Scarborough Borough Council is also continuing with online meetings for the time being but it's not the case across the whole of North Yorkshire. Five out of the county’s seven district and borough councils said they would stage all their meetings in council chambers.
Many local authorities have expressed frustration after the government declined to extend the permission it gave during lockdown for decision-making council meetings to be held online, saying meetings should be held in person with appropriate social distancing measures.
However, critics have accused the government of hypocrisy, highlighting how relatively empty the House of Commons continues to be during debates as MPs are allowed to join parliamentary discussions online.
Earlier this year a number of councils in the region, including North Yorkshire County Council, moved to side-step the rules by empowering senior officers to authorise or decline councillors’ recommendations.
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